Joyce and Jed: January 2011

Here's Chloe's first modeling job. I was so excited when I saw it. I wasn't sure if she made it in the catalog since there was another little girl shooting in the same room, and you don't know what they'll do until it comes out. I didn't think I'd be so excited either, since we're just doing it so we can put money away for her, but even Jed got excited when he saw it. (Funny thing: the room says Cate and her shirt says Ella on it. I think that was one of the reasons they chose this pose.) Chloe also had a lot of fun doing this too. They gave her toys and sang songs with her. She was just smiles and giggles the entire day. I love it! She's so cute!

She's in Pottery Barn's 2011 Spring Catalog pg. 103

My mom wanted to take Elijah to Disneyland since he loves Mickey Mouse right now. So thanks to my mom, we were able to have a spectacular vacation at Disneyland for the last few days of the year. (Thanks again!!!) It was so perfect too, because Elijah really loves Mickey Mouse! He got to see all of his favorite characters too. Although, the only one he didn't personally get to meet was Donald and Daisy, but he had fun touring her house. Elijah was so excited on our drive down to L.A, he just wanted to see Mickey, and he continued to get more excited after seeing the buses with Mickey and friends on it going into Disneyland. He was so sad when we were leaving because he didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Mickey.

It's such a difference going to Disneyland with kids too, because before, I didn't care about seeing any of the characters. I just wanted to go on the rides. This time it was about enjoying how excited Elijah got and even how much fun Chloe was having. None of us minded only riding on the kiddie rides either. Disneyland is so nice because all of the people there are so friendly and nice. It was also so beautiful. They decorated everything for Christmas so everything, including the rides, was decorated and lit up.

When we walked in to Disneyland we got to meet Minnie Mouse and saw a bunch of other characters. Mickey and Santa were Elijah's favorites; although, he saw Pluto the most often and Goofy was the nicest and actually played a little bit with the kids, especially after Chloe cried when she first saw him. Elijah only really knows Mickey Mouse and those characters and so didn't get too excited about the other ones. Maybe when he's older :)

We got to ride some of the rides and check out a lot of the attractions. Chloe's favorite was probably It's a Small World. She loved the bright lights and colors. Elijah loved everything but his favorite ride was probably the flying Dumbo ride. He didn't even get scared on any of them, but did cry when he was too short to ride the train roller coaster. We also got stuck inside the Roger Rabbit ride, so we got to take a picture on our way out. When Jed was planning on building a robot earlier in the year, he studied the Asimo Robot by Honda, and it was actually on display, unfortunately it was closed when we got there.

We watched the parade and saw all of Elijah's favorite characters there. Elijah finally got to see Donald (Donald Duck is Jed's favorite)! (Beauty and the Beast is my favorite)

This is what the kids looked like by our second afternoon, so we headed back to the hotel for naps.

Then we went back and stayed late for the firework show on New Year's Eve. (Elijah's favorite thing besides seeing Mickey) They even had foam snow at the end, which Elijah loved.

Elijah and Chloe also had a blast in the hotel room. They had so much fun playing hide and seek in the closet and bed.

And it was FREEZING cold while we were down there so we had to bundle the kids up. (Chloe was our little marshmallow) Chloe's favorite game was taking her hat off and throwing it outside of the stroller while we were walking. Her second favorite game was doing the same thing with her shoes.